I roll over in my bed to look at the clock, 7:00 AM  is what it reads and I feel annoyed knowing It’s time to get up for school. I get out of bed and head downstairs to get ready. I look at the fridge to see a note from Mom, “Sabrina, me and your father left this morning please be careful and behave, Love mom”. Mom and Dad are on a business trip so I have the whole house to myself for a week. But only if I knew what events lay ahead of me in the near future… I then hear a buzzing sound from my phone. “It’s Jake” I say out loud and look down to see someone is calling me, “Hey babe, on my way to pick you up, passing Mr. Shawn’s convenience store”, “Hi baby, ok great I’ll be ready when you get here” I say in an eager tone and then hang up the phone. I haven’t seen my boyfriend all weekend. Unfortunately because his Mom is really sick, you can tell it pains him. Being his Mom is all he has parent wise, is Dad isn’t around. I’ve never met his mother for some reason, actually now that I think about it I’ve only been to his house once in our relationship, it makes me question why? We have been together since my freshman year, and his sophomore year. And now he is in his senior year and I’m a junior. I’ve just always assumed it was because his Mom maybe didn’t like the company over and never really questioned it. I hear a car pull up and then a car horn. I swiftly run outside with my stuff knowing it is my boyfriend here to pick me up and hop into the car, I look over to see my boyfriend with a big smile on his face and a big bouquet of flowers for me in his hand. I love this man.

Later That Day……

I was walking home from school that same evening, I was passing by Lakens Butcher Shop, when I looked over to see a bundle of missing pictures, but they were all children. I’ve heard rumors about kids going missing frequently but nothing major. It worries me when I remember seeing Becky Black’s mom standing outside the school waiting with some local police officers. At the end of the day she seemed to be looking for someone nervously, Becky hasn’t been to school in days. I thought she was sick but now seeing her mom like that, I wondered if it was something more.

Becky is a freshman barely 15, so I stopped and looked at all the missing report papers: James Mason, Robert James, Elizabeth Bowling, Nico Nemeriz, and Becky Black. All of them are no older than 16. It’s sad, no wonder Mom and Dad don’t let me leave the house at night anymore, much less alone at all. I normally wouldn’t go this way home but I wanted a change of pace, to see something new but now I’ve just walked down into a nightmare.

I finished my walk home still curious about what happened to those kids, I got on my laptop and searched it up, “Missing kids in Smoot” I searched and the first link was a news report. When I clicked on it, a video with a local news lady popped up and started talking “So far in the town of Smoot 5 children all around the ages 11, 12, 13, 14,and 15 have gone missing in the time span of a week and a half. Police investigators are warning children to not walk alone at night and to avoid deserted areas, they do not think this is a coincidence and they suspect a kidnapper is on the loose and targeting young children. Parents keep a close eye on your kids and do not hesitate to call 911 if they go missing. The sooner they can find the person responsible for this, the faster they can find the missing kids and put a stop to this mess”. I felt a shiver run down my spine…

I just couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day. I called Jake to talk about it but he was acting weird. Every time I tried to bring it up he would try to change the subject and would start stuttering, he never stutters. He sounded nervous but at the same time he sounded happy, too happy considering we were talking about missing kids in our neighborhood. But I just brushed it off, that is until out of nowhere he said “Stop worrying about those kids Sab, their bodies will turn up sooner or later they always do” I felt a shiver down my spine and a pit in my stomach, Why would he say something like that, I thought and nobody said they were dead. He could just be assuming they’re dead. “Nobody said they were dead Jake” I said cautiously, He started stuttering and reassured me that they must be dead and it was just an assumption. Something still felt terribly wrong, something in my gut told me that, that was not something he would normally say.

I couldn’t sleep all night last night, it was all I could think about. Jake picked me up the next day for school but he was acting strange. He wasn’t his normal happy, talkative self, he was quite straight forward and he seemed nervous and anxious. “What’s wrong?” I asked nervously, “Nothing, why?” He said quickly. “I don’t know you just don’t seem yourself you seem quiet and anxious, ever since our talk last night you seem off, are you sure you feel oka-” I was cut off by him raising his voice at me “NOTHING’S WRONG, jeez why do you ask so many questions, It’s annoying”. I stopped talking and just sat there, for the whole car ride it was quiet and all there was, tension between us. Enough tension to make my heart burst. 

I didn’t talk to him for the entire ride nor the rest of the day, every time I’m in a room with him or even look at him I feel this instant flight or fight instinct in my body telling me to back up and get away from him. I kept my distance for the rest of the day and next day…well until the end of the day, It was hall break before 8th period, I was at my locker when I looked to my left and saw Jake walking up to me, I got nervous, he walked up to me and apologized for how he acted and he was just stressed and tired. He told me he wanted to make up for it and let me do something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Meet his Mom and come over for dinner at his house. I was shocked, he hasn’t said anything about his Mom for months and all of a sudden he wants me to meet her? “Mother, really wants to meet you, she’s looking better than ever right now” my gut told me to say no, but my curiosity got the better of me so I said yes. If only I listened to my gut feeling.

Later that night….

Despite feeling uneasy about this, I was determined to find out what he was hiding. I had put on a pair of black ripped jeans, a blackish, grayish long sleeve sweater. Jake says he likes me in ripped jeans and a sweater, I wore a neutral face of makeup and hair down brushed but fuzzy. I sat on the edge of my bed trying to convince myself that I was overreacting and there was nothing to worry about. But I still couldn’t get my mind off of it. That’s when I hear a car horn outside and a text from Jake “I’m here’’, I hurried down the stairs and out the door, I jumped in his car and we left, he could tell I was nervous he reassured me that she was going to love me and there was nothing to worry about. 

We get to his house and when I walk in I don’t see his Mom anywhere, “Where’s your Mom at?” I asked in a confused manner “She will be joining us later” he said in a cheery tone, it confused me, why later? That makes no sense, but I went along with it anyway. We sat down at the dinner table. There were three plates and cups but only two of us. Then all of a sudden he said “Before we start let me introduce you to my mother!” He gets up from the table motioning me to follow him. We walk down a long hallway and then up a set of stairs to the back corner of the house, to what I would guess to be his Mother’s room. He opened the door to the room and motioned me to go first, everything in my body told me no but my curiosity got the best of me. I couldn’t resist. I had to find out what was going on. So I went in, I should have made him go first, at least maybe I would’ve had a chance. I walk in to see what looks to be a woman laying perfectly still on the bed and a semi see through sheet all around the bed hiding her like a curtain. I stood there concerned, confused, and scared and when I thought those feelings couldn’t get worse they did when all of a sudden I heard Jake shut and lock the door to the bedroom. I started shaking and I felt my heart pounding out of my chest. I looked back behind me to see Jake with a horrifying smile on his face, he walked up behind me and walked toward the bed. He wasn’t himself, he knew I knew he did something, and he started talking about his mother. “Mother used to be so sick, she looked awful, so I made her better. I made her look better, just like the others. All those poor children didn’t know what hit them.” He chuckled. I felt the biggest drop in my stomach when he said that, he started pulling back the curtain revealing his now dead Mother but in a doll-like form. Her skin was clear and smooth in a porcelain looking way. “I had to fix her, to make her better and I couldn’t lose her so I went the alternative way and fixed her in a way where she will last forever! Her skin will not fade or rot, her hair will never fall out again, her eyes will forever be this shade of green, and her lips will never lose color. They will never turn that deathly blue again” he stated in a way that no one who is merely sane could say. “I fixed the other children too and I saved them. I took them out of this dump and made them better, and I want to fix you too Sabrina.” That’s when it hit me that he was the one who took those kids on the missing posters. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so I started to back up slowly trying to reach for the door. He continued, “You are a smart girl, Sab, that is one of the many reasons why I fell in love with you. Let me help you.” I started to back up faster. I knew I was close to the door so I turned around and ran. I could hear him walking up behind me as I struggled to open the door since it was locked. I could hear him coming closer and closer speeding up every step, but I finally got the door open right before he grabbed me to do God knows what to me! I ran up through the hallway around the house trying to find a door that wasn’t locked. I tried all the windows I could but they were all locked too, so I just aimed to find a door that was open. I ran through another hallway, I didn’t know where to go since I had only been here once and I never went up stairs. I was completely lost, every turn I made was a dead end. All I could hear was him walking around trying to find me. He was screaming at me to come back. I ran for what seemed like hours but was really a few minutes and that’s when I finally found a door that wasn’t locked. I rushed inside and quickly shut and locked the door hoping he didn’t hear which door it was. When I turned around I was shocked to see I was in Jake’s room. I instantly ran to the window to see if it was locked, and as soon as I had hope that this nightmare was over, it wasn’t, the window was locked. No matter what I did I couldn’t seem to get it open. That’s when I heard heavy footsteps coming from down the hallway, I quickly but quietly jumped into the closet and shut the door holding my hand over my mouth trying to cover up any noises. The footsteps grew louder and louder and heavier eventually coming to the front of the door. I pushed my body to the back of the closet where I felt something touch my leg. I slowly look down to see a hand. I bit my hand to keep myself from screaming, It looked like a child’s hand. I quietly kicked it off of me while still listening to Jake trying to break down the door. I kick over a pile of clothes with my foot to reveal something horrifying. All of the missing kids, every single one of them lying in a pile, stacked on top of one another, dead! I couldn’t contain myself, I started screaming bloody murder. I flung open the closet door not even noticing that the banging from the bedroom door stopped, I jumped out of the closet in pure terror, not even acknowledging my surroundings or anyone in it. I stumbled backwards in a panic, having no time to think. The next thing I remember is someone grabbing me from behind and putting a cloth over my face and I blacked out.

I woke up sitting in a chair paralyzed; I was unable to move or speak, I was no longer in my jeans or sweater but was now wearing a blue and black dress that you would imagine seeing on a doll. I looked into the mirror beside me to see a blue ribbon tied in my hair. My vision was slightly blurry and I had a migraine, but all I heard was someone humming, it was Jake. He was humming a lullaby, I think it was “hush little baby” but I wasn’t sure, either way that wasn’t what I was worried about. I look up to see all of the dead children set up in chairs dressed similar to me. They all were in the same state as Jakes mom, doll-like skin and features. Jake turned around to see me awake, he walked up to me and had a maniac’s smile on his face. I sat there just waiting to wake up from a nightmare, I was sure this wasn’t real. But unfortunately, it was real, very real.

 I’m trying to help you, I’m trying to fix you. I want to take you out of this horrific world and somewhere new. Like Mother, like the other kids. Look at them, they look happy” he said in an excited tone. I look around the room at the dead but newly formed doll people with fake smiles on their faces. “You will look just like them very soon, and you’ll be happy like them, and we will be together forever all of us as a family.” he said with a smile on his face. That statement will soon be the last thing I will ever hear. He leaned back up to stand up straight, my heart started pounding as I saw him lift a sledgehammer over his head to swing down on mine. He looked down at me and smiled a second before he swung the hammer down upon my head, and everything went black.

The End